Our directory introduces holidays to the world. We gather information on common holidays & those you didn't know existed. We cover the festivities of events, who celebrates them & holiday recipes too. Join us each month to learn how to celebrate each observance.

May is a month of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere and spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Therefore May in the Southern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of November in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa.

No other month begins or ends on the same day of the week as May in any year. January of the following year always begins and ends on the same day of the week as May of the current year.

The month May was named for the Greek goddess Maia, who was identified with the Roman era goddess of fertility, Bona Dea, whose festival was held in May. Conversely, the Roman poet Ovid provides a second etymology, in which he says that the month of May is named for the maiores, Latin for "elders," and that the following month (June) is named for the iuniores, or "young people" (Fasti VI.88).​

April 29 to May 5 in Japan, which includes four different holidays, is called "Golden Week". Many workers have up to 10 days off. There is also 'May sickness', where new students or workers start to be tired of their new routine. (In Japan the school year and fiscal year start on April 1.)

In the neopagan Wheel of the Year, May begins on Beltane in the northern hemisphere and Samhain in the southern hemisphere.

May 1 is the feast of St. Joseph the worker in the Roman Catholic calendar. In the Catholic Church the month of May is dedicated to and honors the Blessed Virgin Mary.

May 1 in the Irish calendar is Beltane (Bealtaine), the first day of Summer, and a public holiday is held on the first Monday in May.

May is the month of Music in New Zealand.

May 1 is May Day in many countries. This is also celebrated as Labor Day in many countries.

May 1 is May Day in the United Kingdom, however the public holiday is held on the first Monday in May.

The night before May 1 in Germany it is an old custom to plant a "Maypole" to honor someone. Often young men set up an adorned birch in front of their girlfriend's house.

May 3 is when the Polish Constitution Day is celebrated in Poland.

May 3 is Constitution Day in Japan.

The first Saturday in May is the date of the annual Kentucky Derby, the most famous horse race in the United States.

May 4 is the day of Remembrance of the Dead in the Netherlands, commemorating all the casualties in military conflicts involving the Netherlands.

May 4 is Liberation Day in Denmark, celebrating the ending of the German occupation from April 9, 1940, to May 4, 1945.

May 5 is when Cinco de Mayo or the Batalla de Puebla is celebrated in Mexico. It is also celebrated widely in the United States.

May 5 is the Children's Day in Japan and Korea

May 5 is Liberation Day in the Netherlands, celebrating the ending of the German occupation.

May 5 is Europe Day in Europe (uncommon usage, largely replaced by May 9).

May 8 is VE Day in Western Europe. In Eastern Europe it is celebrated on May 9.

May 9 is Europe Day in the European Union.

May 9 is Victory Day in the former Soviet Union, celebrating the capitulation of Nazi Germany.

May 10 is Golden Spike Day (1869 – Completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad – Promontory Summit, Utah)

May 12 is International Awareness Day for Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases (CIND). These diseases include Neurofibromatosis, Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS)/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Fibromyalgia, Gulf War Syndrome and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

May 13 is when the Catholic Church honors the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to the three children of Fátima, Portugal – May 13, 1917.

May 13 was Lumeria the day for seeing spirits to the other side in ancient Rome, the holiday was later moved to November 1st and called All Souls' Day.

May 15 is the beginning of Tourette Syndrome awareness month. It ends on June 15th.

May 17 is Norwegian Constitution Day.

May 17 is Vesak full moon poya day(Buddhism's Holiest Day, The day of birth, enlightenment (nirvāna), and passing away (Parinirvāna) of Gautama Buddha.

May 18 is International Day of Capitalism

May 21 is when the Battle of Iquique (Combate Naval de Iquique) is celebrated in Chile, and it is a national holiday.

May 24 is when Eritrea celebrates its Independence Day (Independence from Ethiopia).

May 24 is remembered and celebrated in Ecuador as the day of the Battle of Pichincha – May 24, 1823.

May 25 is the May Revolution (or Revolución de Mayo), a national holiday in Argentina.

May 25 is Towel Day, in tribute to Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

May 28 is Armenia's first independence, from the Ottoman Empire;- May 28, 1918.

Under the French Ancien Régime, it was of habit to "plant a May" or a "tree of May" in the honor of somebody. The County of Nice saw girls and boys "turn the May" with the sound of fife and drum, i.e. to dance rounds of May around the tree of May planted on the place of the village.

New Zealand Sign Language Week happens once every year in May, Deaf Aotearoa New Zealand organises NZSL Week with over 500 events happening in New Zealand to help promote the language as well as raise awareness about New Zealand’s Deaf community.

2nd Week of May

Bike Week (Bicycle Week) is a yearly international event that advocates the importance of bicycling as a means of transportation. Bike Week takes place during the second week of May or June and is typically an entire week of city-wide cycling supplemented with events.

3rd Week in May

The League of American Bicyclists is promoting Bike-to-Work Week from May 14 to 18, 2012 and Bike-to-Work Day on Friday, May 18, 2012.

Last Week in May

ALIA celebrates Library and Information week in May. Events are organised by libraries around Australia to encourage people to use their local libraries. Children's librarians hold a special event known as National Simultaneous Storytime, where public and school libraries read the same book, at 11 am EST, to children around Australia.

International Headband Week runs from the Monday-Friday in the last week of May. People all around the world are encouraged to wear Headbands to work and other social events to promote character building and confidence in the workplace and other social environments.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses some material from Wikipedia/article February / and other related pages. Top Photo: homestead stock

Note: We try to keep our information up to date but it must be said that organizations sometimes change the date of their holiday and many holidays are actual movable holidays which means the date will change from year to year. We try to keep you up to date but we do suggest that you not take our research set in stone. We ask that you let our information be a guide to you as you continue to do your own calendar research. :) Thank You! • •

Perhaps the most dominant Geminian characteristic is versatility. It is also considered an air sign, and is one of four mutable signs. Gemini has been closely associated with the planet Mercury and is considered to be ruled by it. Being the third sign of the zodiac, Gemini has been associated with the astrological third house.

Individuals born when the Sun was in this sign are considered Gemini individuals. Under the tropical (western) zodiac, the Sun is in the sign of Gemini roughly from May 21 to June 20, ending at the moment of summer solstice by definition. Under the sidereal zodiac, it is currently there roughly from June 15 to July 15. The Sanskrit name of Gemini in Hindu astrology is Mithuna.

Convallaria majalis (pronounced /ˌkɒnvəˈlɛəriə məˈdʒeɪlɨs/), commonly known as the lily of the valley or lily-of-the-valley, is possibly the only species in the genus Convallaria in the flowering plant family Ruscaceae (or one of two, or three, if C. keiskei and C. transcaucasica are recognised as separate species).

Christian legend:

Convallaria close-upThe flower is also known as Our Lady's tears, since, according to Christian legend, the lily of the valley came into being from Eve's tears after she was driven with Adam from the Garden of Eden, although this seems unlikely, since in Catholic parlance, "Our Lady" refers to the Virgin Mary. Another Christian legend states that Mary's tears turned to lily of the valley when she cried at the crucifixion of Jesus, and because of this it is also known as Mary's tears. According to another legend, lilies of the valley also sprang from the blood of Saint Leonard of Noblac during his battles with a dragon.

Our monthly calendar is packed full of unique, strange, bazaar, wacky and weird holidays that make perfect Theme Parties if your looking for something wild to celebrate. (can also be known as Unofficial Holidays) Strange holidays like these are taking on a new popularity in today's culture and can be celebrated world wide even though most listed were first made popular in the United States. Most weird holidays honor some kind of wacky invention or a fun and bazaar thing to do. • Dates for Friday the 13th • Weird Holiday Directory

Although major holidays such as Christmas, Easter & Thanksgiving, are referred to as food holidays, we are actually talking about daily observances that's held in honor of a certain food. Did you know that each month has foods that represent it? It sure does! Just about every day in the month is celebrated by a food holiday. Plus month and week observances too! •Recipe Directory for Traditional Holiday Food

Movable Holidays are ones that do not always occur on the same day or date each year. Movable Holidays are also the hardest holidays to keep up because individuals will unknowingly list them as occurring on the same day each year when they are indeed a movable holiday.

There are many types of holidays and many reasons to celebrate each day! This section of our website is a day to day directory for around the world observances. Our wish is to give you a better understanding of the holidays for each day, so you too can join in the celebrations. Yes, there really is a Holidays for everyday.

"The Europeans brought many of their influences to Argentina and one of their great contributions was the gnocchi. Apparently Argentineans were pretty impressed with this food because it not only received its own day of the year, it received its own 12 days of the year. The 29th of every month is Gnocchi Day, (or as the Argentineans call it “ñoquis del 29″)" • How to celebrate Gnocchi Day • Gnocchi Recipe

Resources: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses some material from Wikipedia/article May / and other related pages. Top Photo: wiki

Note: We try to keep our information up to date but it must be said that organizations sometimes change the date of their holiday and many holidays are actual movable holidays which means the date will change from year to year. We try to keep you up to date but we do suggest that you not take our research set in stone. We ask that you let our information be a guide to you as you continue to do your own calendar research. :) Thank You! • •